Peter Ng'etich And George Omonso
30 April 2004
Nairobi — Mr James Langat, a large-scale farmer in Trans Nzoia District, is a very frustrated man indeed. The rains have pounded the area since March 31, but he is not sure if he will plant his maize crop before the end of the planting season.
Like other farmers in the North Rift, which is considered to be the country's grain store, Mr Langat's mind is occupied by the big question: will I get the usual heavy harvest if I plant late?
For the past 10 years, maize production in the region has been declining due to the poor performance of agriculture-supporting organisations such as Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC), the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA) and the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
A farmer should harvest 30 bags, each of 90kg, per acre each season, but this has remained elusive as most of them farmers have harvest between 11 and 15 bags.
Besides the near-collapse of the farmers' institutions, extension services have been non-existent since mid-1980s. Most farmers have been doing "guesswork" farming, expecting nature to take care of their maize crop.
This year, planting has been hit by the delay of the 40,000 tonnes of fertiliser promised by the Government, which was to be supplied through NCPB. Thus, in desperation, the farmers decided to buy the input at a much higher price from unscrupulous traders instead of waiting.
Normally, the planting season in the Rift Valley starts in mid-March and ends in mid-April. The fertiliser hitch has forced the farmers to carry out the exercise from early April to mid-April as the rains pound the area.
"Dry" planting has the advantage of enabling the crop to make maximum use of the phosphates in the soil and water. With late planting, compounded by poor farming practices and lack of extension services, food security is at risk this year.
The farmers also lack guidance on the right fertiliser to use, the date of planting, the right seed and other necessities.
According to Sustainable Agriculture Centre for Research Extension and Development in Africa (Sacred), a non-governmental organisation that provides extension services in western Kenya, most soils in the North Rift and parts of Western Province are acidic due to the continued use of diamonium phosphate (DAP). With the continued appliance of DAP, maize yields have been dwindling over the years. Experts say DAP stays in the soil longer than any other fertiliser.
According to the experts, the fertiliser does well in virgin land, but its continued use without constant soil testing reduces yields.But with the continued use of the fertiliser , which contains phosphorus and nitrogen, the acidic soils need neutralisation to raise the yields.
Sacred director Eusebius Mukhwana explains that what the farmers need to do is to apply lime. A 50kg bag of lime, which is enough for an acre, has the retail price of Sh200. Urea and calcium-ammonium nitrate (CAN) may also be applied.
Dr Mukhwana says that the farmers could harvest between 22 and 27 bags per acre if this was done.
Due to the high costs, most small-scale farmers in the area have not been top-dressing their crops. They only plant with DAP, weed and wait for the crop to mature. This way, they never achieve maximum yields.
The few qualified extension officers available are at the provincial level, and there is no link between research institutes like the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and the officers.
With renewed confidence in the Narc Government, the farmers could raise the maize acreage to about 60,000 hectares, but it seems as if only 50,000 will be tilled with the increased fertiliser prices - Sh1,200 to Sh2,000 per bag. Of the 50,000 hectares, 10,000 might not do well because of archaic farming, says Dr Mukhwana.
Late planting, he adds, is not good as a farmer will not realise the maximum harvest due to stunted growth.
According to Sacred, out of all the maize farmers, only 60 per cent or less get what they invested in their farms. A farmer on average invests Sh20,000 per acre and reaps Sh15,000. The loss explains the slow but sure shrinking of the maize acreage since the mid-1990s.
Another problem is the long time it takes to obtain loans from AFC. Even without the NCPB-sourced fertiliser, they would have acquired the loans and bought fertiliser at the exploitative prices. AFC sources say that about Sh769 million was released by the Government to be loaned to the farmers, but not much was borrowed because of tough conditions attached to it.
But the managing director of the Kenya Seed Company Limited, Mr Hosea Sitienei, says the company sold an estimated 14 million kilogrammes of seed maize this season, against a targeted 16 million. Previously, it sold about 11 million per season.
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